The death, last year,
of Rolande Falcinelli removed from the
organ world one of the most tangible
remaining links with the teaching and
philosophy of Marcel Dupré. Falcinelli
was a favourite pupil of Dupré,
and is herself perhaps now best remembered
as a pedagogue - she was Professor of
Organ at the Paris Conservatoire for
more than thirty 30 years - rather than
as a performer in her own right. However,
as this set of live recordings, and
other recent releases - for example
from the Dutch label Festivo - demonstrate,
she was an extraordinary player of a
sort which, even in France, is now a
rarity.

Falcinelli visited
the French town of Belley over seventeen
successive summers in order to perform
and teach. This was at the instigation
of one of her students, Jean-Pierre
Millioud. The grand orgue of the Cathedral
there was originally built by Cavaillé-Coll
in 1858, a modest instrument of some
26 stops. In 1936 it was enlarged and
electrified, somewhat unfortunately,
by Merklin and Kuhn, resulting in a
three manual instrument of some 51 stops,
including a positif with all manner
of squeaks. The organ sounds well enough,
but is not terribly distinguished. The
interest here lies therefore in the
artistry of the performer.

Not surprisingly the
Dupré playing is perhaps the
most impressive. She gives as controlled
and supple a reading of Évocation
as one could wish for. Her ‘encore’
performance of the early Scherzo in
f minor is astoundingly assured despite
the left-hand pyrotechnics. Such was
her advocacy of Dupré’s art that
Sylviane Falcinelli even writes in the
programme notes that "nothing irritated
her so much as to see fellow organists
fall back on the music of Dupré’s
first period, more immediately accessible,
whereas the composer had evolved …..".
Not much has changed, though I have
to confess my own fervour for the later
organ works of Dupré is strictly
limited. Évocation, composed
during World War II, is perhaps the
finest ‘later’ composition.

The Franck playing
equally demonstrates Dupré’s
influence in its slow tempi and highly
calculated phrasing - deeply admirable,
if perhaps now rather dated. Surely
Dupré’s way of playing the music
represents more of a break in the tradition,
than a continuation of it?

Hortus as usual provide
us with a relevant and well presented
release. Perhaps a shame that no composition
or improvisation of Falcinelli is included
– maybe this will feature in a future
release?

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